Stanford (6-1-3, 3-0)
at Oregon State (5-4-2, 1-2) | Thurs. • 6 p.m.
at Washington (6-5, 1-2) | Sun. • 3 p.m.
Television • Pac-12 Networks (Sun.)
Live Statistics • OSUBeavers.com (Thurs.) | GoHuskies.com (Sun.)
Complete Release (PDF)
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LOOKING AHEAD » No. 10 Stanford (6-1-3, 3-0) will wrap up the first half of its conference schedule with a pair of upcoming road games at Oregon State (5-4-2, 1-2) and Washington (6-5, 1-2). The Cardinal plays the Beavers on Thursday, Oct. 11 at 6 p.m. and the Huskies on Sunday, Oct. 14 at 3 p.m. Ann Schatz and James Riley will have the call from Seattle on Pac-12 Network, Pac-12 Bay Area and Pac-12 Washington.
LAST TIME OUT » Stanford won 4-2 at Cal on Sunday afternoon, its eighth straight victory over the Bears and its most goals scored in the series since a 6-1 victory late in 2012. The Cardinal scored twice in each half, with tallies coming from Amir Bashti (27'), Tanner Beason (33', 68') and Zach Ryan (83'). It was the first time Stanford had surrendered two goals in a game in more than a year (Sept. 23, 2017 at Saint Louis; L • 2-0).
STANFORD-OREGON STATE SERIES » The Cardinal is 36-6-5 all-time against the Beavers in a series dating back to 1988, 16-1-3 in the past 20 and 11-0-1 under Jeremy Gunn. The Cardinal hasn't dropped a result to OSU since a 1-0 loss in Corvallis on Oct. 23, 2011. Stanford scored three times in the first half to beat Oregon State 3-0 in its last visit to Corvallis on Oct. 22, 2017. Tanner Beason buried a penalty in the 25th minute of that win.
STANFORD-WASHINGTON SERIES » Stanford is 19-34-6 in 59 all-time meetings with the Huskies dating back to 1974. Stanford is 3-3-2 against the Huskies since 2014 with none of the last six being decided by more than a goal. After going a decade without a win at Washington, the Cardinal has won two in a row in Seattle. On Oct. 6, 2016, Andrew Epstein made a monumental save early in the second half, Amir Bashti bagged the winner in the 78th minute and the Cardinal beat UW, 1-0, to secure its first win in Seattle since 2006. Bashti (8') and Foster Langsdorf (13') each scored in the first 13 minutes and Stanford was victorious at Washington, 2-1, last Oct. 19. The Cardinal has not won three in a row against the Huskies in Seattle since 2000-02.
BEASON DELIVERS » Redshirt junior co-captain Tanner Beason was named Pac-12 Player of the Week for the first time in his career on Tuesday after collecting his first career brace in the win at Cal. He converted a penalty in the 33rd minute and knocked in what proved to be the winner off a Derek Waldeck corner in the 68th, the second match-deciding goal of his career. The scores were the first two of the season for Beason, who is also tied atop the Pac-12 with five assists and is 26th nationally in assists per game (0.50). He also earned a spot on the national team of the week selected by College Soccer News.
WINNING IN BUNCHES » The Cardinal is 33-3-7 (.849) in conference since 2014, has won nine in a row and is unbeaten in its last 14 matches against Pac-12 opponents. Stanford's nine-match league winning streak is a program record and its 14-match unbeaten streak is three shy of its all-time best. The Cardinal's 17-match Pac-12 unbeaten run from Oct. 9, 2014 to Oct. 30, 2015 is tied for the 15th-longest in conference in NCAA history.
ROAD WARRIORS » The Cardinal is unbeaten (10-0-1) in road Pac-12 matches the past three seasons, going 4-0-1 in 2016, a perfect 5-0 in 2017 and 1-0 this year. Stanford's last league loss away from Cagan Stadium came at Washington, 2-1, on Nov. 2, 2015.
BOUNCING BACK » The Cardinal's lone loss this season came on Sept. 20 to Pacific, 1-0, and was its first in 363 days. That result ended the Stanford's program-record unbeaten streak at 21 consecutive matches and also snapped its 12-match home unbeaten run. The defeat was Stanford's first since Sept. 23, 2017 at Saint Louis (2-0) and its first home loss since Sept. 9, 2017 against Tulsa (2-0). Stanford still has not been beaten in two consecutive matches in the same season since 2012, Jeremy Gunn's first year as head coach.
CARDINAL QUICK HITTERS »
- Stanford cemented its dynasty with yet another clinical postseason performance in 2017. On a sequence that began with a throw-in deep in opponent territory, Sam Werner stripped an Indiana player with one touch and stabbed a right-footed shot under the crossbar on his next, at 102:03, to beat the Hoosiers 1-0 and give Stanford just the second three-year championship run in NCAA history.
- Stanford is just the second program to win three straight NCAA titles. Virginia won four in a row from 1991-94. It is also the seventh program to win at least three national championships along with Saint Louis (10), Indiana (8), Virginia (7), San Francisco (4), UCLA (4) and Maryland (3).
- Stanford went 52-7-10 (.826) during its three-year championship run and is now 58-8-13 (.816) since 2015.
- The Cardinal did not allow a goal throughout the entire 2017 tournament for the second straight year and upped its NCAA-record postseason shutout streak to 12 - a stretch of 1,214 minutes and 20 seconds. The only other programs to go through a postseason without allowing a goal are Wisconsin (1995) and San Francisco (1976).
CONVERTING CHANCES » Stanford's passing and movement in the final third has kicked into high gear since entering conference play. The Cardinal, which had scored seven goals in its first seven matches of the season, has put in 10 in its first three Pac-12 contests, surpassing the previous program record of nine (2017, 2001). Stanford is second in the conference and 51st in the country in scoring offense (1.70 goals per game) and eighth nationally in assists per game (2.40).
DEFENSE WINS » With shutouts in seven of its first 10 matches, the Cardinal is second in the nation in goals against average (0.375) and redshirt freshman goalkeeper Andrew Thomas is second individually in that category (0.377).
SHUTOUT STREAK SNAPPED » Stanford had an active shutout streak of 974:15 before Georgetown scored on Sept. 3, the longest stretch in program history. Ethan Lochner's 65th-minute tally was the first goal the Cardinal had surrendered since a Brian Iloski penalty kick for UCLA on November 2, 2017, a span of nine matches. It was also Stanford's first goal allowed from open play since October 19, 2017 at Washington when Kyle Coffee headed in a cross (1,208:02). The Cardinal's nine-match streak of not allowing a goal from November 5, 2017 to August 31, 2018 is tied for the eighth-longest in NCAA history.
NEW LOOK, SAME STANFORD » A process-oriented bunch, Stanford headed into 2018 with the task of replacing seven starters from a year ago, including the conference's career goal scoring leader Foster Langsdorf and 2017 Top Drawer Soccer Player of the Year Tomas Hilliard-Arce. Those two, along with Corey Baird, Nico Corti, Bryce Marion, Drew Skundrich and Sam Werner led Stanford to three national championships, four Pac-12 titles, a 65-10-13 overall record (.813) and 30-3-7 (.838) conference mark in their four years on The Farm. They combined for 71 percent of Stanford's scoring last season (34 of 48) and are all playing professionally. (Nico Corti – RGVFC; Foster Langsdorf – Timbers FC2; Tomas Hilliard-Arce – LA Galaxy; Bryce Marion – RGVFC; Corey Baird – Real Salt Lake; Drew Skundrich – Bethlehem Steel FC; Sam Werner – Israel). The Cardinal has started at least four freshmen in seven of its first 10 matches this season.
SIMILAR TO 2016? » Stanford returned a loaded bunch last season, but after its first championship the Cardinal was also forced to search for answers at key spots the following year. The Cardinal had to replace five starters, including MAC Hermann Trophy winner Jordan Morris and two-time Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year Brandon Vincent. Those two, along with Slater Meehan, Ty Thompson and Eric Verso, accounted for 53 percent of the Cardinal's scoring (23-of-43) during its 2015 title run. Stanford started its 2016 season 3-2-3, but only lost once again all season, finishing 12-1-2 in its last 15 en route to title No. 2.
GREAT UNDER GUNN » One of four coaches to win NCAA titles in both Division I and Division II, head coach Jeremy Gunn has led a team to the College Cup final four times in the past seven seasons. He and Virginia's Bruce Arena (1991-94) are the only coaches to win three consecutive NCAA men's soccer championships. His teams are 90-26-21 (.734) in his seven seasons on The Farm and he owns a career record of 277-87-52 (.728) in 20 seasons, a mark which makes him the fourth winningest active coach at the Division I level and the 18th winningest coach all-time (both by percentage). Gunn and his staff were named the 2017 National Staff of the Year by United Soccer Coaches and he also secured the first national men's coach of the year award handed out by Top Drawer Soccer.
KENNEDY PROMOTED » On August 22, third-year assistant Oige Kennedy was promoted to associate head coach. Working primarily with the Cardinal's keepers, Kennedy's first two years on The Farm were hugely successful. In 2017, Nico Corti put together the best statistical season for a goalkeeper in Stanford men's soccer history. He finished second in the country in both goals against average (0.386) and solo shutouts (14), set Pac-12 records in both categories, a school record in goals against average and tied the school record in solo shutouts. A year prior, Andrew Epstein made two consecutive penalty kick saves in the College Cup final against Wake Forest to lead the Cardinal to its second straight national championship. That season, Epstein was named the College Cup's Defensive Most Outstanding Player, a United Soccer Coaches Second Team All-American, CoSIDA First Team Academic All-American and finished seventh in the country in goals against average (0.571). Corti (0.00) and Epstein (0.34) are first and second in NCAA history in career postseason goals against average and just the fifth and sixth keepers in college soccer history to go through an entire postseason without allowing a single goal.
MAKE IT FOUR » Stanford was unbeaten in conference action for the first time last season (9-0-1) and added a 2017 conference title to championships from 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2001. Stanford became the second Pac-12 school to win four in a row. UCLA won the same number of consecutive conference crowns from 2002-05. Jeremy Gunn is the only coach in league history to win more than two consecutive Pac-12 titles as UCLA's four-year run was split evenly between Tom Fitzgerald and Jorge Salcedo.
THE CAPITAL OF COLLEGE SOCCER » Last season Stanford became the first Division I school to win national titles in both men's and women's soccer in the same season. The men's championship came one week after the Cardinal women knocked off UCLA, 3-2, for that program's second national crown. Stanford has won more NCAA titles (117) than any other school and owns an active 42-year stretch with at least one NCAA team championship dating back to 1976-77.
SCORE TWICE AND WIN » Stanford has scored two or more goals in 71 of Jeremy Gunn's 137 matches as head coach and is 65-0-6 in those games. The Cardinal hasn't lost when scoring at least two goals since Nov. 11, 2010, when it fell 3-2 at Cal.